EDUCATION

Over a quarter-million concrete blocks are being used to build the new Neenah High School. Here's the latest on the $171 million project.

AnnMarie Hilton
Appleton Post-Crescent

FOX CROSSING - More than 250,000 concrete masonry units, or blocks, and 1,500 yards of grout are being used to construct the new Neenah High School scheduled to be complete in early July 2023.

Inside all those bricks and yard after yard of grout will be four full-size practice courts, a competition gym big enough to fit 3,100 people, a wrestling room, an auditorium and more.

Wednesday night, Miron Construction led a tour of about 30 people through the construction site of the new school being built on a 220-acre site in Fox Crossing along County II. The project has undergone noticeable progress as the framing has been going up for the two educational wings and gym and auditorium spaces that will sit on either side of a large courtyard.

A cost estimate for the new school from late March totaled $171 million, which is $14 million over budget because of inflation, material cost and the addition of a geothermal system for heating and cooling.

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The masonry team hasn't run into shortages, but the steel shortages are dragging on. Andy Vis, director of steel and precast for Miron, said steel supply has improved slightly, but still isn't where it was three or four years ago.

And the new high school is using a lot of steel. For example, a 250-ton crawler crane has been brought in to install a 35,000-pound joist that stretches 102 feet long and 13 feet tall in the competition gym.

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Between footings, foundations and slab work, 12,000 yards of concrete will be hauled in to construct the building. It will take more than 1,250 truckloads — about 9½ yards of concrete at a time — to bring in all the material needed for the new high school.

To keep on track with a project as large as this one, Miron is using a few new pieces of technology to help get the new high school built faster and more efficiently.

The masonry team is using a material unit lift enhancer, or a MULE, to reduce fatigue and injury among workers and increase productivity. Rather than a person having to lift the full weight of each concrete block, the MULE carries most of the weight.

Miron is utilizing virtual planning tools for this project to create two- and three-dimensional plans with impeccable attention to detail. The plans can show everything from underground plumbing to where every outlet in a room will be located, said Jay Mathes, virtual construction lead.

For this project, more than 1,000 drawings are being used, all of which contain the most updated version and any previous versions. Those also can be shared to iPads that workers have with them on site.

Officials say using the virtual planning programs and other tools can shave hours and even days off a project.

Reach AnnMarie Hilton at ahilton@gannett.com or 920-370-8045. Follow her on Twitter at @hilton_annmarie.